A while back I started hearing a high-pitched “whine” or “whistle” from the rear of the GE refrigerator. Of course as any guy does, I let it go for a few months and hoped it would stop. It was somewhat intermittent so it’d go for a few hours then stop for a few days.

Finally, I decided to investigate so I unplugged, pulled the fridge out, unscrewed the back cover, cleaned the fan and coils in the back and pushed it back. A few days later, it returned so I cleaned it all out again. A few days later it came back. Upon further investigation it appeared that the fan blades were rubbing against the outside housing. I adjusted but I couldn’t seem to get it lined up properly to keep it from happening long term.

So, I finally decided to flip the bill for a new $17 fan motor from amazon and see if that would fix it. Sure enough, it took about 20 minutes to replace the fan motor and the whistling stopped, never to return. You can purchase the $20 fan motor that worked for my GE refrigerator from amazon.